Buckle for footwear



Sept. 17, 1940. A. LEvlNE BUCKLE FOR FOOTWEAR Filed April 15, 1940 ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 17, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE l BUCKLE FOR FOOTWEAR Abraham I. Levine, Brooklyn, N. Y. Application April 15, 1940, Serial No. 329,740

1 Claim.

This invention relates to buckled footwear. It is particularly directed to a shoe or boot provided with highly improved buckles to replace the laces on shoes.

An object of this invention is to provide a shoe of the character described having imp-roved buckles for buckling the shoe, and which is so constructed that when the buckles are opened, there is no bridge between the adjacent edges at 'the front of the shoe, so that the foot may be readily set right into the shoe without interference by the buckles, the buckles being so constructed that they may be locked within a few seconds and opened up easily and rapidly.

A further object of this invention is to provide a shoe provided with a plurality of buckles which may be selectively tightened tov variousdegrees, so that one part of the shoe may be tightened more than another part to accommodate the wearer, said buckles being independent of one another.

Yet a further object of this invention is to provide a shoe having strong, rugged and durable buckles of the character described, which may be readily manipulated and easily adjusted, and which shall be relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and practical and eicient toa high degree.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

'The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, `and arrangement of parts which will be exempliiied in the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the following claim.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is shown one of the various possible illustrative embodiments of this invention:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a shoe embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig; 3 is an enlarged, front elevational View of a portion of the shoe, and one of the buckles with parts broken away and in cross-section;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 4--4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 4, but showing the buckle opened up.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, I designates a yshoe embodying the invention, slit at the front from the instep to its upper edge forming spaced adjacent edges I2 and I3. Inserted within said edges I2 and I3 are aligned pairs of metal strips I4 and I5. Said strips may be about two inches in length, there being as many pairs o-f metal strips as there are buckles I6 to be described in detail hereinafter.

The tongue I'I of the shoe covers the space between the adjacent edges I2 and I3. The strips I4 and I5 are attached to the shoe by means of rivets I8 and I9. The rear ends of the rivets may be covered by lining strips Ia and I9a.

Attached to each strip I4 is a buckle part |661., and attached to each strip I5, is a buckle part |60. The buckle parts Ilia and |611l cooperate to form the buckle I 6.

The buckle part Ilia comprises a channel shaped member 20 having `a bottom wall 2| and parallel side walls 22. The botto-m wall 2| is fixed to the edge I2 of the shoe bythe rivets I8 which pass through the metal strip I4. The front edges of the side walls are formed with aligned notches 23.

The notches 23 are inclined outwardly as shown in Fig, of the drawing. The buckle part IBD comprises la channel shaped member 24 having a bottom wall 25, attached to the edge I3 and to the metal strip I5 by said rivets I9. Extending from the bottom wall 25 are parallel side walls 26 carrying a transverse pivot pin 21. Pivoted to the pin 2T is a link 2B having parallel side walls 29 and an inter-connecting top wall 30, The side walls 29 carry a transverse pivot pin 3| at the end of member 2B opposite the Apin 2l. Pivoted on pin 3| is a lever 33 having a portion disposed between the walls 29 and carrying a transverse pin 34. The lever 33 is formed with a handle 35at one end.

The distance between the parallel walls 22 of member 20 is less than the distance between the walls 29 of link 28 and also less than the distance between the side Walls of lever 33.

It will now be understood that to buckle up the shoe, each lever 33 is rst swung in a counter-u clockwise direction about pivot pin 3|. The pin 34 is engaged in any desired pair of aligned notches 23. The lever is then rotated in a clockwise direction to tighten the buckle.

It will be noted that the metal strips I4 and I5 distribute the stress on the shoe. When the buckle is opened up, there is no bridge between edges I2 and I3, thus acting to facilitate placing the foot into the shoe. Each buckle may be tightened to a different desired degree. `The buckles may be readily locked or opened up. The improved buckles 'may be used for ice-skating shoe or ski-boots, and may be applied to any other type of footwear such as hiking boots, loggers boots and the like articles.

It Will thus be seen that there is provided a device in Which the several objects of this invention are achieved, and which is Well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the abo-ve invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new' and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A buckle for a shoe having a slit at the front extending 'to its upper edge forming a pair of opposed edges and a reinforcing strip embedded in each edge, said buckle comprising a, channel shaped member to be fixed to' one of said strips and having parallel Walls formed with aligned 

